THE 2006 ELECTIONS: THE SENATE; Lieberman, Seniority Sure, Has No Plans to Join G.O.P.

By JENNIFER MEDINA

Published: November 9, 2006

The morning after a six-month roller coaster of an election season, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman stood victorious, again promising to burnish his independence in the narrowly divided Senate.

Mr. Lieberman said he spoke Wednesday morning to Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, and that Mr. Reid assured him that he would retain his seniority despite having bolted the party after losing its primary in August to run on his own party line.

That means that if a Democratic victory is confirmed in Virginia, to give the party control of the Senate, Mr. Lieberman will be in line to become chairman of the Homeland Security Committee.

There were no calls from the White House, Mr. Lieberman said, or offers to court him away from the Democratic caucus in the Senate. And even if there were, Mr. Lieberman said, he would not accept. Asked if there were anything Republicans could do to persuade him to switch parties, Mr. Lieberman responded with a sly smile.

''There's a little playfulness in me that wants me to make a joke about that, but it's too serious,'' he said. ''The answer is no.''

Indeed, though Mr. Lieberman's news conference was completed moments before President Bush's announcement that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld would resign, he went out of his way to make it clear, again, that he was not interested in that job -- or any other post in the Bush administration.

''I would reject any offer, which has not come, and, I believe, will not come,'' he said.

Instead, Mr. Lieberman seemed to be relishing his renewed independence and seniority in a Senate where, regardless of the outcome in Virginia, either party's razor-thin majority will make it vital for Democrats and Republicans to form coalitions.

''This is not so much to threaten anybody, but, look, this is going to be a closely divided Senate however it works out,'' he said. ''And I'm just going to feel empowered and in some sense directed by the voters of Connecticut, issue by issue.''

Even as he praised Mr. Reid and Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the presumptive speaker of the House, there were still signs of the toll the tumultuous campaign had taken on Mr. Lieberman's relationship with the party that had been his lifelong political home.

He noted, for instance, that he had not immediately returned calls from Mr. Reid or Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, who had backed his opponent, Ned Lamont. Yet he had already spoken to Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, the chairwoman of the Homeland Security Committee.

Some state Democrats say they are unsure what to expect from Mr. Lieberman, whom exit polls showed winning with more than two-thirds of the Republican vote and one-third of the Democrats.

Mr. Lamont's campaign buoyed thousands of new voters and volunteers, and many of them helped the Democratic candidates in competitive House races here. In his victory speech Tuesday night, Mr. Lieberman offered somewhat of an olive branch, saying that Mr. Lamont had run a tough campaign.

Even as he said that he would ''make sure that the system is open'' to bloggers and other active party members, Mr. Lieberman criticized the ''netroots,'' the Internet activists who had helped fuel Mr. Lamont's candidacy.

''Some of them have had a destructive effect on political discourse because they are so venomous,'' he said. ''Obviously, I was on the receiving end of a lot of it. And, you know, I didn't recognize myself in what my staff let me see.''

While many read Mr. Lieberman's defeat in the primary and many of the national elections as a rebuke of the war in Iraq, the senator appeared steadfast yesterday, saying ''you can't make national security policy with public opinion polls.''

Many Democrats, both nationally and here in Connecticut, said Mr. Lieberman's most potent difficulties could come when the debate turns to Iraq, where he remains at odds with most Democrats. But far from diminishing him, some see the defeat followed by triumph as enhancing Mr. Lieberman's stature, at least on the talk-show circuit.

''Just based on the fact that he was able to pull this off, independents across the country are going to be looking to him,'' said Kenneth Dautrich, a political science professor at the University of Connecticut. ''He will command more attention than any other Democratic senator.''

When asked if he had learned any lessons from the election, Mr. Lieberman responded: ''I don't know if I can point to any one, specifically.'' He added, ''I have no sense of self-righteous perfection here.''

Photo: INDEPENDENT VICTOR -- Senator Joseph I. Lieberman in Hartford yesterday with his wife, Hadassah. He said he wanted no job in this administration. (Photo by Ruth Fremson/The New York Times)